This should definitely go into a painting sometime. A double self-portrait of me in this form, having tea with my Fluttershy as a yellow pegasus who’s picking up her cup with no thumbs – it seems that the more time I spend here, the more ideas that appear to me.
Wait… Do I smell bubble gum?
“Yes, it does smell like bubble gum.” The other me told me, “I thought the tea would be a touch better if it smelled like that.” I admit, I silently agreed.
“Say, how do you do that?” I ask.
“Do what?”
“How do you make things appear like that?”
The other me rolled his eyes, “Magic, duh.” I let out a laugh. “Did I say something funny?” He asked.
“Magic? Really? I might be somewhat crazy, but if there’s one thing I know, and that there’s no such thing as magic.”
Both he and Fluttershy looked at me funny like I said something taboo like my boss actually wears a wig.
“What?”
“You're serious right?” he asked. “You don’t believe in magic?”
I shook my head, “Oh come on, I’m not a five year old.” Taking a sip from the tea, I added. “Besides, what I’ve seen so far, it all must be using an illusion to do all this stuff. Like putting me in a pink bubble? That has to be done with magnets somebody placed on me and used a projector to make it look like I was in it. And you with making a hat and umbrella appear must be a trick of the eye. Also, the bubblegum smelling tea, someone put something in it.”
The other me looked in disbelief. “Do you know what he’s talking about?” He turned to the pegasus. She put a hoof to her chin.
“I think Twilight said something that they have no magic whatsoever where they came from.”
“No ma- No magic! None?! How do you even live?!?! How do you spread chaos when you can’t even do a simple levitation spell or anything?!” The other me said with hysteria.
“We’re both artists, aren’t we?” I asked him.
“Well yeah but-”
“I paint and sometimes sketch to let my creative madness out. I may not have… whatever you have where I come from, but I get by from making art.”
“Well… I… Just… But…” He stammered. His eyes twitched and looked at every direction. Ah great, I think I just broke myself. “This is too much! I need to calm down.” And in a flash of light, he vanished.
“Where’d he go?” I asked, turning to Fluttershy.
“I don’t know,” she admitted quietly. “I never seem him like that before. I hope he comes back okay.” She and I stayed quiet for a minute or two until she asked, “So… I-In your world. Do you happen to know, well, the other me? Twilight said she ran into her, have you?”
“I have. She’s actually a student of mine.”
“R-Really?”
“She’s doing pretty well in my art class. With her simple drawings and her ‘extreme knitting.’”
“HOW DID-” She covered both hooves over her mouth. “I-I mean… How did you know that?”
“Well, I asked her one day what kind of art she was good at, and she told me (quietly) that she was really good at knitting anything.”
“Oh.”
At the way she said that word, I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Doesn’t anyone know that you’d knit?”
“Um… Just my friends know – and Celestia too.”
I shook my head, “Dear Fluttershy, you need to be a little more confident in yourself as an artist.”
“I-I know, but…”
If she’s anything like the Fluttershy that I know, she’ll tell me what the matter is as long as I’m being patient with her if she’s going to get moving. And like a mechanical toy, she does.
“I know that I’ve won that extreme art contest once, even gotten some praise for my art, but, what if I get too famous? What if too many ponies want a commission from me? What if I disappoint them? What if-”
“Ms. Shy,” I ordered her. “Calm, all, the way, down! Look, if you don’t want to go crazy overwork, just simply tell them that you have your limits. All artists do. Even I have my limits. So if you're asked to work on something that you know you can’t do, tell them. It will save you from going cuckoo.”
She blinked. “Wow, that’s something like Discord would say.”
“That’s because I’m kinda him, only as a teacher.”
Suddenly, Fluttershy’s front door slammed open, “HI FLUTTERSHY!” We looked and there hopping in, (yes, hopping) was another pony who looked oddly familiar.
Come to think of it… It’s a she, and pink, and has curly hair, has balloons on her butt… Is that?
“Oh, hi Discord,” and that voice…
“Pinkie?”
“Uh-huh. Say do either of you know anypony new coming to town? I just had a Pinkie sense a while ago saying that somepony new had just come to Ponyville. But I can’t find him, or her, I’ve been searching high and low but I can’t find them. Have you’ve seen anypony new so I can give them a ‘Welcome-to-Ponyville’ party?”
Yep, definitely Pinkie.
“Well…” Fluttershy ventured. “There actually is somepony new.”
“Really?! Where are they?”
She answered when the other me popped right back into the chair. “Alright, I’ve calmed down now, so where were we?”
I looked over to Pinkie, her eyes widen and her mouth dropped to the floor like an exaggerated cartoon. “T-There’s TWO of you?!?! Omigosh do you know what this means?!?! Now we can double- wait, that line’s already taken… Eh, never mind, I’ve got a- wait. Are you a changeling?” She said pointing at me.
“A what?”
“A changeling, you know, the buggy thing that can change into anyone while sucking the love out of you like a vampire, not like in those bad romance vampire books but the kind that sucks out your blood until you’re dry kind of vampire?”
“Uh… no?”
She looked at me with squinting eyes like I’ve just got caught from escaping from the hospital again. But her face lighted up, “Okay! Now if you three don’t mind, I’m going to head off to prepare for a ‘Welcome-to-Ponyville-second-Discord party! See ya at three!” And before any of us could say anything, she hopped out of the door, then she was gone.